1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to rotary diggers, and particularly to a dirt shield for use with rotary diggers in order to prevent dirt from being thrown upon plants adjacent to a path of travel of the digger and enable rows of crops to be planted closer together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Home gardens have been very popular down through the years, and even in today's predominantly urban society most people who have sufficient land cultivate a garden plot. This is especially true today in view of the marked increase in the price of fresh vegetables, and the like, in recent years. As a result of this interest in private garden plots, rotary diggers usually referred to as roto tillers have been developed for facilitating the cultivation of the crops. These rotary diggers are generally about the size of a power lawn mower and include, in most commercial models, two or more horizontally mounted rotary earthworking members provided with outward blade tips generally referred to as tines.
A disadvantage with these hand-steered powered cultivating devices, however, is that they tend to throw dirt outwardly in the transverse directions from the path of travel of the device. Accordingly, the crop rows must be spaced sufficiently to prevent the dirt thus thrown outwardly from covering the crops and thus damaging them.
The use of dirt shields per se with digging devices is generally known, examples of which can be found in prior U.S. Pat. Nos.: 93,362 8/3/1869, 380,998 4/10/1888, 663,494 12/11/1900, 807,349 12/12/1905.